From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

Political labels in an era of change.

Hello again, I'm Arunalny, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International, a daily look at the issues.

Americans care about most. As the presidential

campaign begins in earnest, both candidates are trying to define themselves and each other,

but the distinctions are blurred. Blue Dog, congressional Democrats, say Obama's too liberal. Labor

leaders worry he's not liberal enough. McCain is supposed to be a maverick Republican,

but he's sounding more like President Bush.

Is he or is he not a real conservative?

Why are some Republicans calling themselves Obamacons?

On to the point, will those labels still matter?

By the time voters go to the polls in November.

On reporter's notebook later on,

California's latest tourist attraction, same-sex marriage.

First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio

International Program Fund, whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John

D. and Catherine T. McArthur

Foundation. Hello again. Marnalny, back with To the Point. Is Barack Obama a tax and spend

liberal Democrat, or is he not liberal enough? Is Republican John McCain a real conservative,

a maverick, or something else? On To the Point, after decades of political polarization,

both candidates claim they want to be agents of change, do the familiar labels still matter at all? On reporter's

...